Lawmakers Press University of Wisconsin President over Spending and Return on Investment

Jay Rothman

Republican lawmakers on the study committee looking at the future of the University of Wisconsin want to know what Wisconsin families are getting for the $1.3 billion the state currently spends on the university, and what they should expect if the state spends more.

Lawmakers questioned UW President Jay Rothman at his appearance at Thursday’s hearing in front of the Legislative Council Study Committee on the Future of the University of Wisconsin System.

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Gov. Evers OKs Millions for University of Wisconsin Construction, Tuition Distribution Changes

UW Campus

There’s going to be a building boom on some University of Wisconsin campuses across the state.

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed a new law that clears the way for a new engineering building at UW-Madison, as well as classroom renovations in both Madison and Whitewater. The new law also includes nearly $200 million for central plant renovations and demolition projects.

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Wisconsin League of Women Voters Weighs In on University of Wisconsin System Diversity Issue

The League of Women Voters in Wisconsin is taking a stand on the fight between Republican lawmakers and the University of Wisconsin over diversity, equity and inclusion money.

The League encouraged Republicans to release $32 million that’s being held in an effort to get the university to move away from diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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University of Wisconsin Enrollment Up for First Time Since 2014

There are a couple of hundred more students at University of Wisconsin schools this fall after the university released its fall 2023 enrollment numbers.

“The estimates show an enrollment of 161,322 for fall 2023, an increase of 540 over fall 2022. For new freshman students, the estimates indicate an increase of 592 students in fall 2023 at UW System universities not including UW-Madison, which deliberately sought to reduce the number of incoming first-year students after last year’s incoming class was slightly larger than anticipated,” the university said in a statement.

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Wisconsin Universities Keep DEI Positions Despite GOP Gutting Budget by $32 Million

University of Wisconsin campus leaders have not cut diversity, equity and inclusion positions from their campuses despite losing $32 million in funding from the GOP-led state legislature earlier this summer in an effort to see such programs axed.

However, system leaders are in the process of requesting a partial reimbursement to the tune of $15 million from the Wisconsin State Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee to fund non-DEI, workforce development-related positions, which state lawmakers left open as an option to recoup some of the cuts.

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University of Wisconsin President: School Must Move Forward Despite Financial Issues

The president at the University of Wisconsin says the challenge now is to deal with the school’s financial challenges.

UW President Jay Rothman told university regents there’s been plenty of attention paid to the university’s deficits and diversity, equity and inclusion budget cuts. Now, though, the job is to find answers.

“Our focus now has to be on how to move forward from here,” Rothman said.

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Wisconsin Indigenous Activist Exposed as Appropriating Native American Ethnicity

Kay LeClaire, the far-left Madison, Wisconsin-based activist who claimed an American-Indian heritage and clamored for radical causes she said benefitted the indigenous community, is facing public denunciation after being exposed as entirely white.

LeClaire, who went by the alias nibiiwakamigkwe [lower-case in the original] is a co-founder of giige [also lower-case in the original]. The arts-oriented group describes itself as “an Indigenous and queer space for the community in and around Teejop [a Ho-Chunk tribal word for the Great Lakes region].” Though female, LeClaire describes herself as “nonbinary,” denying she belongs to either sex. 

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Wisconsin State Senator: UW’s Response to Conservative Speaker on Madison Campus ‘Unacceptable’

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin are once again questioning free speech at the University of Wisconsin after a conservative speaker at the Madison campus was met with graffiti, protests, and condemnation from university leaders.

Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, on Monday said the university’s response to Matt Walsh’s visit to Madison is unacceptable.

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New Paper Aims to Give Wisconsin Teachers Alternative Views on Race, Capitalism, U.S. History

Teachers in Wisconsin have a new resource with a much different take on American history, slavery and race, as well as the successes of capitalism.

The new paper – “Critical Theories vs Human Flourishing” from UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mark Schug and Professor Of Economics & Director Of The Free Enterprise Center Scott Niederjohn – offers an alternative narrative to the critical race theory being taught in many of Wisconsin’s schools.

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Hundreds of Sociology Syllabi Contain Liberal Bias Across Assignments and Readings, Survey Finds

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Campus Reform obtained copies of the syllabi from Spring 2021 undergraduate sociology classes at six universities.

Universities include: the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State University–Columbus, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.

In total, Campus Reform surveyed 201 undergraduate course syllabi across these institutions. This number included 25 100-level introduction to sociology courses, which are sometimes taken by non-majors to fulfill general education requirements. The results of the survey, divided into the categories of assignments, biased language, and common textbooks and readings, are below.

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Speaker Vos Questions the University of Wisconsin’s Decision to Make SAT, ACT Optional

Robin Vos

The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly is not a fan of the UW System’s decision to no longer require an SAT or ACT test.

UW Regents last week approved a plan to extend the school’s “test-optional policy” for two more years. That means high school freshmen and sophomores don’t have to worry about taking the tests in order to get into a University of Wisconsin school.

Regents say dropping the test requirement will help more students get into college.

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University of Wisconsin Begins Testing of COVID Vaccine on Infants 6 Months to 5 Years

an infant sleeping

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has begun testing the COVID vaccination on infants and toddlers aged six months to five years. They will be one of several vaccine sites across North America testing the Moderna vaccine, which has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The testing will be conducted on around 4,000 very young children, a portion of which will be performed at the University of Wisconsin’s testing site. 

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University of Wisconsin Clarifies Mental Health Hires, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty Still Worried about Racial Stereotyping

Daniel Lennington

One of Wisconsin’s government watchdogs says it’s keeping an eye on whether the University of Wisconsin’s new mental health providers for students of color discharges their duties in a discriminatory fashion.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday sent a letter to the university after UW-Madison’s September announcement that it hired nine new mental health professionals. WILL took issue with how the school originally framed the new counselors.

The university said “three of these providers will exclusively serve students of color, joining eight providers already in this role.”

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Leading School Series: University of Wisconsin-Stout, Educating the Educators

  Schools like the University of Wisconsin at Stout are addressing the other side of the skills-gap equation. If public schools are going to bring back the trades, then they’ll need educators to teach them. The university’s Emerging Center for Career and Technical Education Excellence seeks to “serve the career and technical education community by meeting the 21st century needs of K-12 and postsecondary technical educators who are at the forefront of workforce education.” The Center offers a number of bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees in the career and technical education (CTE) fields—all of which are geared towards the training of teachers. “UW-Stout is uniquely qualified to address the needs of career and technical educators and leaders as it is the only UW campus that offers a full complement of career and technical education programs,” its website explains. “Graduates from the CTE programs are prepared to teach and lead within secondary and postsecondary settings such as high schools, community colleges, public and private technical colleges, and industrial training programs.” In fact, the Center’s doctoral degree in career and technical education was first launched in 2013, and is the university’s first and only doctoral program. “The degree is designed to help…

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University Approves Policy to Allow Expulsion or Suspension of Protesting Students

A major national university has approved a policy to suspend and expel students who protest “campus speeches and presentations.” The University of Wisconsin system Board of Regents voted on the new punishments for students who have already been charged with “disrupting others’ free expression.” Now, students who offend a second time — having previously engaged in…

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